When it comes to educating tomorrow’s leaders in senior living and other areas of aging services, one of the greatest challenges is creating awareness about the opportunities in the field, a panel of experts said during a Vision Centre event last week.
Education experts discussed their different approaches to training and educating senior living and care leaders during a Thursday webinar. The center, with support from several associations active in the industry, began with a goal of creating 25 university and college programs to prepare future generations of leaders to work for providers.
Now, for one of the programs, at Indiana University, the curriculum is being revamped to expose undergraduate students to opportunities in long-term care. Fairbanks School of Public Health Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Affairs Sarah Johnson said that IU is trying to reach students and is providing internship connections, career outings and shadowing opportunities.
“That revamping of the introductory course changed the tone around how this part of the healthcare system fits into students’ conceptions of what they might do in the future,” Johnson said. “We’re starting to address the lack of awareness around this area, or not understanding how the pathway fits.”
Susan Krum, AuD, executive director of health administration at Rutgers University, agreed that the biggest challenge is creating awareness for students on what it means to enter a career in aging services.
“We have to get rid of the vision of the old nursing home and make sure they understand there is so much more potential,” Krum said, adding that the goal is to encourage students to “think outside the box” and beyond the area of acute care.
Rutgers is expanding its seven-year-old health administration undergraduate program to ensure that it exposes students to information about senior care and services in all of its core courses, as well as offerings of elective dedication to long-term care operations and finance. Krum said that Rutgers is working on the first course in its master’s degree program, which includes an “intense” week of senior living and care.
Alumni are another source of support, according to the panelists. Johnson said that having recent graduates return to campus and show students where they are in their careers in the field compared with where they would be if they had entered another healthcare field, and how quickly they move up, is influential. IU spotlights its alumni through panel discussions, speaking engagements and as adjunct instructors, he added.
“It’s powerful,” Johnson said of the influence of alumni. “It’s the most powerful resource we ended up turning to, in terms of changing the dynamic of getting students excited.”
Krum added that graduates who have completed internships, landed jobs and secured licensure can describe the process to current students who are interested.
Community stakeholders can inform curriculum development
San Diego State University created a workforce advisory board to gain a better understanding of workforce challenges, SDSU Social Policy Institute Co-Director Steve Hornberger said, adding that successful education programs must cross disciplines and systems.
“It’s striking how sometimes people just have their own motivation and focus, research and courses, and they have a hard time seeing anything beyond that,” he said. “For me, the issue is how do we begin building partnerships with community stakeholders to inform some of the development.”
Hornberger said that proactive community engagement is helping to better align SDSU’s curriculum with industry needs. The university is developing partnerships with older adults, professional caregivers, academia and business, as well as with faith-based and national healthcare organizations.
“Become a credible collaborator,” he said.
SDSU now is exploring offering a professional development certificate for mid-career professionals and graduate students who want to get into senior living and care. Hornberger said that the university is viewing it as a precursor for a master’s program in aging services leadership.
Marian University in Indianapolis is at the beginning of its efforts to create an undergraduate degree program in health and human services within the Evans Center for Health Sciences, with a specific track for senior living leadership and administration, said Dorothy Gomez, PhD, RN-CNE, an associate professor. She agreed that a community needs assessment is essential before such an undertaking.
“We looked internally at our own degree we’re already giving, and the assessment showed a community need for people to have employment in senior living,” Gomez said. “Those employment opportunities are important to students.”
Marian University is working with community partners to allow its HHS general track students to be able to choose the senior living track and have related employment and licensing opportunities as they finish the program.
“That end point is one of the most important things we’re looking at,” Gomez said.
Hornberger pointed out that half of children under 5 today are expected to live to be 100.
“They’re going to be living in a very different society than what we have now,” he said, adding that a career in aging services provides students with an opportunity to think about what they want for themselves in the future “longevity economy.”
